I wrote this draft for The Independent Australian. Does anyone else agree it should be cancelled?
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It's day one of schoolies, everybody is celebrating, it's been a huge year of school for everyone. Most of the schoolies have spent near on weeks studying, and a whole year deprived of partying and drinking. This week long celebration is supposed to make up for it all, Joe is celebrating as hard as anyone else, he only finished exams last week, being among the unfortunate people who had the last the exam of the entire timetable. He and his six mates have rented out a boat and chartered it to Rottnest Island, to join the other thousands of leavers that will be there. They managed to convince one of their father's to come along and be the designated 'over-18' but he is as keen as celebrating as everyone else is. At about 10 pm Joe's mates managed to attract a bunch of girls from another boat on to their own, and at 12am things are really heating up. All the seven mates have scored female partners and all are being adventurous, the free condoms handed out on the Island will no doubt come in use tonight- the mates feel the condoms are like a free ticket to encourage sexual experimentation. Eventually all but three of the girls leave, including the one Joe was with, his best mate Mark has managed to keep his girl on the boat. Joe heads up to the front of the boat, his not feeling well, a whole day of funnelling, drinking and spliffing in the sun does not do him any favours. He leans over the boat rails and begins to vomit, in between bouts of vomit he looks through the open boat skylight into the main cabin- he can see his best mate Mark and one of the girls, they appear to be very busy, one of Joe's vomiting bouts misses the target off the boat and ends up falling though the skylight all over the couple below- amazingly they still continue, appearing not to notice. Welcome to schoolies.
Joe and his mates are like tens of thousands school leavers all throughout the country, each year they flock on holiday towns and beaches and celebrate the end of the schooling. ‘Schoolies’, or ‘Leavers” as it is known in WA began in the 1970’s in Queensland, and quickly spread to other states. It began as a way to have a last hurrah with school friends before they went their separate ways on to university or apprenticeships. The binge drinking and drug taking which many associate with schoolies these days had it’s humble beginnings at this time. Schoolies and the behaviour that occurred there was largely tolerated until the mid 1990’s, where a crack down on drinking and drugs began, it didn’t have that much effect, when in 1995, 75% of male schoolies and 53% of female schoolies reported being drink most or every day or night of Schoolies Week also in the same poll 21.5% of schoolies acknowledged to have been stoned most or every night, these statistics haven’t really changed since. At face value these statistics might just point to teenagers doing a teenage thing by letting their hair down after finishing school. For some cases this is true, but there is no doubt that the drinking and drug taking contribute heavily to the violence and sexual assault that occurs each year at schoolies.
The ironic thing is that state governments have spent thousands of dollars in stopping the consumption of alcohol; it is now a fact that it would be unusual to go the whole of schoolies without having your bag searched- this how the police stop drinking, search and destroy. This strong stance towards alcohol has one really dramatic negative effect: drugs. Drugs are much easier to hide than alcohol, quite cheap and give a much more profound ‘high’ then alcohol. So in the government and police’s attempt to stop drinking, they have ended up accidentally, encouraging the much more dangerous drug use. We spoke to schoolies, and some admitted to preferring drugs over alcohol ‘it’s easier to hide, why even bring piss?’ one said. It’s just one more headache for the Police, they can’t allow drinking or drug-taking, but targeting one more than the other can have a much more damning effect.
This lethal cocktail of drugs, alcohol and an insane party atmosphere leads to one crazy week; this reporter remembers at his schoolies week, stepping into the schoolies district in Rottnest for the first time and thinking like I had arrived in another country, the place was that profound. Everywhere you looked there were people, most drunk, some high; “health professionals” handing out condoms to everyone, the place really swept you off your feet for better or worse. I remember walking around with my mates, and being handed condoms by the ‘franger girls’ as we nicknamed them, one of them handed a condom to my smart ass mates and he said to her “I’m gonna have all the sex in schoolies”, and I’ll never forget the reply “that’s great, what a fantastic attitude to have!”. I still can’t understand the philosophy that went behind the government’s decision to hand out condoms, it’s like saying to someone ‘you have to have sex, no point not having it, because you need to’. I don’t know about you put I would prefer my taxes didn’t go to subsidising for schoolies sexual activities.
It’s this sexed up atmosphere that causes schoolies biggest problems- literally everywhere you look someone is getting lucky. Whether it’s in the bushes, on boat being vomited on, in the middle of a park or a moth-eaten mattress- and the whole time the taxpayer is literally paying for it. I’m sure none of these 17 year olds dreamed of losing their virginity like that. But that is only the consensual stuff; there are hundreds of sexual assaults at schoolies, with the overwhelming majority going unreported. I remember hearing a true story about a sexual assault at Schoolies Week in Dunsborough in Western Australia in 2008- it went unreported, it wasn’t because she was not upset, it was because in that kind of atmosphere, where everyone is drunk and sexed up, it would be impossible to prove who did what- in a way it was not just that criminal boy that assaulted that girl it was the atmosphere that schoolies produces as well.
The violence at schoolies is also rampant; we spoke to schoolies who were involved in scuffles for merely looking at someone in the wrong way. At least now day’s schoolies has a large number of police, this means fights end quicker, but the atmosphere of drink and drugs means fights start out all the same. Another schoolie we spoke to called ‘Dom’ admitted to bringing pepper spray to schoolies, he claims he didn’t want to use it, but if someone attacked him, then he would have no choice. This is what schoolies produce, an atmosphere of fear, where everyone feels in danger.
According to government and schoolies organisers this is all getting better, but this reporter does not think it’s worth it. Schoolies week is almost always like that of Joe’s, sleazy sex, drunken sickness and drug consumption- this is in association in with the numerous sexual and physical assaults that occur each year. Schoolies at least in its current form is not viable; it’s not viable for the police, the government and most especially the schoolies themselves. Schoolies is supposed to be about celebrating the end of school with the mates that got you through 12 years of it- but it almost always ends up being a celebration of the worst kind of things that can occur in your teenage years.
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It's day one of schoolies, everybody is celebrating, it's been a huge year of school for everyone. Most of the schoolies have spent near on weeks studying, and a whole year deprived of partying and drinking. This week long celebration is supposed to make up for it all, Joe is celebrating as hard as anyone else, he only finished exams last week, being among the unfortunate people who had the last the exam of the entire timetable. He and his six mates have rented out a boat and chartered it to Rottnest Island, to join the other thousands of leavers that will be there. They managed to convince one of their father's to come along and be the designated 'over-18' but he is as keen as celebrating as everyone else is. At about 10 pm Joe's mates managed to attract a bunch of girls from another boat on to their own, and at 12am things are really heating up. All the seven mates have scored female partners and all are being adventurous, the free condoms handed out on the Island will no doubt come in use tonight- the mates feel the condoms are like a free ticket to encourage sexual experimentation. Eventually all but three of the girls leave, including the one Joe was with, his best mate Mark has managed to keep his girl on the boat. Joe heads up to the front of the boat, his not feeling well, a whole day of funnelling, drinking and spliffing in the sun does not do him any favours. He leans over the boat rails and begins to vomit, in between bouts of vomit he looks through the open boat skylight into the main cabin- he can see his best mate Mark and one of the girls, they appear to be very busy, one of Joe's vomiting bouts misses the target off the boat and ends up falling though the skylight all over the couple below- amazingly they still continue, appearing not to notice. Welcome to schoolies.
Joe and his mates are like tens of thousands school leavers all throughout the country, each year they flock on holiday towns and beaches and celebrate the end of the schooling. ‘Schoolies’, or ‘Leavers” as it is known in WA began in the 1970’s in Queensland, and quickly spread to other states. It began as a way to have a last hurrah with school friends before they went their separate ways on to university or apprenticeships. The binge drinking and drug taking which many associate with schoolies these days had it’s humble beginnings at this time. Schoolies and the behaviour that occurred there was largely tolerated until the mid 1990’s, where a crack down on drinking and drugs began, it didn’t have that much effect, when in 1995, 75% of male schoolies and 53% of female schoolies reported being drink most or every day or night of Schoolies Week also in the same poll 21.5% of schoolies acknowledged to have been stoned most or every night, these statistics haven’t really changed since. At face value these statistics might just point to teenagers doing a teenage thing by letting their hair down after finishing school. For some cases this is true, but there is no doubt that the drinking and drug taking contribute heavily to the violence and sexual assault that occurs each year at schoolies.
The ironic thing is that state governments have spent thousands of dollars in stopping the consumption of alcohol; it is now a fact that it would be unusual to go the whole of schoolies without having your bag searched- this how the police stop drinking, search and destroy. This strong stance towards alcohol has one really dramatic negative effect: drugs. Drugs are much easier to hide than alcohol, quite cheap and give a much more profound ‘high’ then alcohol. So in the government and police’s attempt to stop drinking, they have ended up accidentally, encouraging the much more dangerous drug use. We spoke to schoolies, and some admitted to preferring drugs over alcohol ‘it’s easier to hide, why even bring piss?’ one said. It’s just one more headache for the Police, they can’t allow drinking or drug-taking, but targeting one more than the other can have a much more damning effect.
This lethal cocktail of drugs, alcohol and an insane party atmosphere leads to one crazy week; this reporter remembers at his schoolies week, stepping into the schoolies district in Rottnest for the first time and thinking like I had arrived in another country, the place was that profound. Everywhere you looked there were people, most drunk, some high; “health professionals” handing out condoms to everyone, the place really swept you off your feet for better or worse. I remember walking around with my mates, and being handed condoms by the ‘franger girls’ as we nicknamed them, one of them handed a condom to my smart ass mates and he said to her “I’m gonna have all the sex in schoolies”, and I’ll never forget the reply “that’s great, what a fantastic attitude to have!”. I still can’t understand the philosophy that went behind the government’s decision to hand out condoms, it’s like saying to someone ‘you have to have sex, no point not having it, because you need to’. I don’t know about you put I would prefer my taxes didn’t go to subsidising for schoolies sexual activities.
It’s this sexed up atmosphere that causes schoolies biggest problems- literally everywhere you look someone is getting lucky. Whether it’s in the bushes, on boat being vomited on, in the middle of a park or a moth-eaten mattress- and the whole time the taxpayer is literally paying for it. I’m sure none of these 17 year olds dreamed of losing their virginity like that. But that is only the consensual stuff; there are hundreds of sexual assaults at schoolies, with the overwhelming majority going unreported. I remember hearing a true story about a sexual assault at Schoolies Week in Dunsborough in Western Australia in 2008- it went unreported, it wasn’t because she was not upset, it was because in that kind of atmosphere, where everyone is drunk and sexed up, it would be impossible to prove who did what- in a way it was not just that criminal boy that assaulted that girl it was the atmosphere that schoolies produces as well.
The violence at schoolies is also rampant; we spoke to schoolies who were involved in scuffles for merely looking at someone in the wrong way. At least now day’s schoolies has a large number of police, this means fights end quicker, but the atmosphere of drink and drugs means fights start out all the same. Another schoolie we spoke to called ‘Dom’ admitted to bringing pepper spray to schoolies, he claims he didn’t want to use it, but if someone attacked him, then he would have no choice. This is what schoolies produce, an atmosphere of fear, where everyone feels in danger.
According to government and schoolies organisers this is all getting better, but this reporter does not think it’s worth it. Schoolies week is almost always like that of Joe’s, sleazy sex, drunken sickness and drug consumption- this is in association in with the numerous sexual and physical assaults that occur each year. Schoolies at least in its current form is not viable; it’s not viable for the police, the government and most especially the schoolies themselves. Schoolies is supposed to be about celebrating the end of school with the mates that got you through 12 years of it- but it almost always ends up being a celebration of the worst kind of things that can occur in your teenage years.
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